Scientists Find Dead Coral Near Site of BP Oil Spill

[Beacool]

(Nov. 6) -- Scientists have found dead coral in the Gulf of Mexico only a few miles from where the BP oil well blew out six months ago, raising new concerns that damage from the massive spill may be worse than reported.

"The compelling evidence that we collected constitutes a smoking gun," Charles Fisher, a Penn State University biologist and expedition leader, said in a statement. "The circumstantial evidence is extremely strong and compelling because we have never seen anything like this -- and we have seen a lot."

Working aboard a research vessel operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, scientists used a robot to survey an area measuring 130 feet by 50 feet some 4,600 feet deep and about seven miles from from BP's Macondo wellhead, the Los Angeles Times reported. They found that hard coral was producing mucus and had turned brown, and soft coral formations had large bare areas. By contrast, coral communities elsewhere in the gulf studied over the years showed no changes, the newspaper said.

Fisher said that the normally brightly colored coral has "been dying for months" and that the BP gusher is likely to blame. "The visual data for recent and ongoing death are crystal clear and consistent over at least 30 colonies; the site is close to the Deep Water Horizon, the research site is at the right depth and direction to have been impacted by a deep-water plume, based on NOAA models and empirical data, and the impact was detected only a few months after the spill was contained," he said.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/scientists-find-dead-coral-near-site-of-bp-oil-spill/19705819?icid=maing%7Cmain5%7C1%7Clink2%7C23903

Total heartbreak. What are we doing to the planet?

:cry: